Old Yeller (1957)

November 17, 2019 5:28 PM

Young Travis Coates is left to take care of the family ranch with his mother and younger brother while his father goes off on a cattle drive in the 1860s. When a yellow mongrel comes for an uninvited stay with the family, Travis reluctantly adopts the dog.

Available for streaming on Disney+, in the US.

posted by 1970s Antihero (3 comments total)

I saw this in the theater with my sister when we maybe 10 and 7, so 1977 or so. And the thing I've never ever forgotten was us leaving the theater when Travis went to get his gun. Don't remember if that was my idea, my sister's or our adult's. But for some reason the act of leaving the movie at that horrific emotional climax has always stuck with me.
posted by Frayed Knot at 5:52 PM on November 17, 2019

You and Phoebe Buffay.
posted by carmicha at 9:45 PM on November 17, 2019

I'm just going to go ahead and say it: I hate Disney.

I am an old, so I saw Old Yeller probably when it was released in July 1959 -- I would have been 6 -- and nobody walked me out, I was furious and my screaming was fierce.

Same thing when they killed Bambi's Mom -- I saw it coming from a mile away, I stood up and started screaming and was ejected from the theatre.

Why does Disney insist on killing the parents of fuzzy baby animals, knowing that young children are watching? I had a boatload of my own trauma by that age. I did not need dead animals, or motherless/fatherless pups.

I hate Disney. And I don't go to movies often; I like to control the remote.
posted by alwayson_slightlyoff at 9:03 PM on November 19, 2019